It's been a little less than 50 years since the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show February 9th, 1964 and changed our lives forever. The Beatles started their professional careers with a trip to Hamburg, Germany in August of 1960. I'm going to post to this blog what the Beatles were doing 50 years ago to the day from just before that first tour until the historic Ed Sullivan appearance. "Follow by email" for ongoing updates. (Eternal thanks to Mark Lewisohn.)

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Astrid Kirchherr Finds a Soul Mate

October/November, 1960

When Klaus Voormann's girlfriend, Astrid Kirchherr, first hears his enthusiastic descriptions of what he has heard down in the St Pauli district, she is very surprised. She considers Klaus a "cool customer" and this passionate attitude is most uncharacteristic of him. After a day or two he convinces her to make the short trip down to the Kaiserkeller to hear this phenomenon for herself.

An apprentice photographer, Astrid, like Klaus, has an artist's sensibility. She describes a dark cellar decorated in a maritime theme, with disused fisherman's nets hanging from the ceiling and dirty tables. This place represents a new and exciting experience for her. Also like Klaus, she is immediately bowled over by the talent and charisma she sees blasting from the stage with the additional high octane jolt of sexual attraction.. The biggest shock comes when Stuart Sutcliffe turns around to face the audience and Astrid falls in love at first sight. When she's sees the young man with delicate features and wearing black leather, brandishing a big bass guitar, she knows instinctively that this is everything that she has been looking for.

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About Me

After a 30 year career in IT, I got a retirement offer from Ford Motor Company that was too good to pass up. Since then I've been devoting my time to enjoying life, especially through reading, biking and music. I'm a member, with Alison Donahue, of the Guitar/Cello Duo called "Cello Bella" and the Beatles tribute band, The Buntles. (We don't get smash hits, but we can usually bunt our way on base!)